Urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu underscored the need for development and welfare to go hand in hand to ensure the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”, and housing for all by 2022 was the Centre’s goal. (Express Photo)

Minister for road transport & highways and shipping, Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday assured Karnataka that his ministry would invest Rs 1.1 lakh crore on development of national highways and a seaport in the state. The Centre would spend Rs 60,000 crore to upgrade 4,000 km of national highways before December this year in Karnataka and another Rs 40,000 crore next year, he said.

Responding to a major concern of the industrialists and investors on the need for good infrastructure facilities at the global investors meet of Karnataka, here, Gadkari said his department would be executing projects for expanding the present national highway network of 9,632 km by another 4,000 km by spending `60,000 crore by December end. This includes widening of Bengaluru-Mysuru highway and Shiradi Ghat widening in the Western Ghats area that connects Bengaluru with Mangaluru, he said. The capacity of all-weather New Mangalore Port would be doubled at a cost of `10,000 crore taking the total investment by his ministry in the state to `1,10,000 crore, he said.

Urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu underscored the need for development and welfare to go hand in hand to ensure the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”, and housing for all by 2022 was the Centre’s goal. He extended complete support of the Central government in carrying out expansion of Bangalore Metro, suburban rail and peripheral ring road projects for Bengaluru city.

New fertiliser plant

Union chemicals and fertiliser minister Ananth Kumar said the central government has approved a second fertiliser plant for Karnataka with a capacity to produce

1.3 million tonnes per annum of urea if the state government provided land somewhere in north Karnataka. He said a modern

research and development centre would be set up in Bengaluru for the establishment of Central Institute of Plastic Technology.

The second centre of excellence for National Institute of Pharma Education and Research is also proposed to be set up in the state, he added.

In his reply, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said the government had offered to provide 500 acre of land for setting up the fertiliser plant in one of the four places of Vijayapura, Bagalakote, Dharwad or Raichur districts in North Karnataka.